The City of New York is reportedly planning to revive 250 old phone booths with the introduction of 32-inch Internet-ready “smart screens” throughout the five boroughs, The New York Post reported on Monday. The touch-screens will display local neighborhood information in multiple languages, including lists of nearby restaurants, stores in the area, traffic updates, landmark information and safety alerts. If the pilot program is successful, the futuristic screens could replace all of the city’s 12,800 outdoor pay phones. “The goal is to pilot it and see what the response is,” said Nicholas Sbordone, a spokesman for the city’s department of Information Technology & Telecommunications. “It will help inform the city’s ongoing reassessment, with public input, of what we want or what we think the future of public pay phones will entail.” Read on for more. More →

AllThingsD is reporting that Apple is planning a media-related event that will take place at the end of January. It’s said that the event won’t be centered around an iPad 3 announcement, nor one around an update on Apple’s TV hobby, but one with Apples Senior VP of Internet Software Eddy Cue. Because Cue is involved, AllThingsD is concluding that this event is most likely around publishing or advertising.

Apple officially announced Wednesday that it will open its brand new Apple Store in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, December 9th. It is the fifth Apple Store location in Manhattan. Apple has 315 employees working at the store, there will be two Genius Bars, and the company will use Grand Central’s balcony coves for personal training and personal setup rooms. The Apple Store Grand Central is open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Apple’s full press release follows after the break. More →

Speaking during the Mashable Media Summit on Friday, AT&T’s senior vice president of communications Larry Solomon confirmed that AT&T will activate its 4G LTE network in New York City “very soon.” AT&T’s 4G LTE network is currently live in Atlanta, Chicacgo, Dallas-Forth Worth, Houston and San Antonio, and the carrier plans to activate the network in Athens, Boston, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. on Sunday, November 6th. AT&T recently revealed its first two 4G LTE smartphones and we took a hands-on look at the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and the HTC Vivid earlier this week. Both phones looked like terrific additions to AT&T’s smartphone portfolio, and we can’t wait to test them on AT&T’s 4G LTE network here in New York City. More →

We just spent some quick time with the HTC Rhyme here at HTC’s event in New York City. The device is sleek, reasonably thin, and feels good in your hand. It’s soft-touch coated and obviously is geared towards more of the female audience with the fashion-focus and color, though the phone itself doesn’t alienate anyone. Specifications are on-point with a mid-range smartphone, and the docking station and other accessories round out a decent package. We’ll have to see how interested consumers are at a $199.99 with a two-year agreement, however, especially with much more capable handsets available and coming soon. Check out the hands-on photos in our HTC Rhyme gallery, alright?

German website HTCInside recently leaked press shots of the HTC Rhyme, currently codenamed HTC Bliss, which HTC is might unveil during a press event in New York City next week. Unfortunately, specs are still very slim at this point. The HTC Bliss was originally rumored to be a smartphone that would be specifically targeted at women, but HTCInside says that won’t be the case when it breaks cover as the Rhyme. The Rhyme runs Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) and may be equipped with a 3.7-inch display. It is possible the Rhyme will be offered in a variety of colors including blue, silver/white, yellow and pink, although that is still unconfirmed. We’ll be reporting live from HTC’s event on September 20th so stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, read on for two more images of the Rhyme. More →

HTC just sent us an invitation for a press event that will be held in New York City on September 20th. We’re not sure what will be unveiled; the company already announced two new Windows Phone devices, the Titan and the Radar, but it is certainly possible we will hear more about U.S. versions of those phones. Perhaps HTC will unveil the Vigor, which is supposed to be one of the first devices to come equipped with Beats Audio and will be sold with a set of Beats headphones. Of course, given the close timing to Fashion Week and the “celebrate in style” tagline, it is also possible HTC will unveil the Bliss, a device that is rumored to be targeted at women. We’ll be reporting live so be sure to check back on the 20th for all of the details as they’re announced.

We’re hosting our first ever reader event tomorrow in New York City, and the response so far has been incredible! Samsung will be there demoing the company’s GALAXY S II handset in addition to other products, and you’ll get a chance to meet with me and the rest of the BGR team. Of course there will be great music, food, drinks and some special appearances as well. Plus, we’re going to be giving away a whole bunch of our favorite Samsung smartphones, so make sure you get there early and don’t forget to RSVP!

Many of you have been reading BGR for years and yet we still don’t know any of the faces behind the avatars. Well, there’s some we probably don’t want to know, but that’s beside the point. We’re doing a super event that’s just for BGR readers and fans in New York City on September 7th at 7:00 p.m., and it’s your chance to corner me and try and make me switch from an iPhone to Android, to smack some sense into Zach for loving the PlayBook, and to try and get Todd off his Infuse. We’ll have some special guests, good music and of course, the entire BGR team will be there. Samsung will also be on hand to demo some of the company’s latest devices. Space is incredibly limited, so if you’d like to attend, please make sure to RSVP at the email below address, and make sure to get there early! We’ll also be giving away a heap load of Samsung devices, so you really want to get there early. The event is at one our favorite spots in the city, AVENUE, and of course, we’d like to thank Samsung for sponsoring the event.

We’ve been hearing reports that Apple would open the world’s largest Apple Store on one of New York City’s Grand Central terminal balconies since February of this year. Despite a report in May that the plan had been nixed, the dream of a 15,000 square foot store could finally become a reality. According to The New York Times, The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) board is expected to approve Apple’s bid later this week during a monthly board meeting. Apple really knew how to woo the MTA, too: buried deep in the article was a discussion about how the iPhone maker submitted its bid for the spot in “linen-lined boxes, as if it were a wedding present to transit officials.” We expect to hear more on Apple’s plans in the coming weeks. More →

While Samsung and Google gave out limited edition Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 units to Google I/O attendees, the general public hasn’t yet been able to get their hands on one of the thinnest Android Honeycomb tablets to date — and, coincidentally, one of our favorite. Today, Samsung announced that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be available exclusively at the Union Square Best Buy store in New York, NY starting on June 8th, with availability expanding to all Best Buy locations on June 17th. The Galaxy Tab 10.1, the world’s thinnest tablet, will be available starting at $499 for the 16GB model, with the 32GB model coming in at $599. The full press release is after the break.

We’re here live from Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 event in New York City where the company is set to detail the next major OS upgrade to the Windows Phone platform. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hinted we could see over 500 new features, let’s hope we get some big enhancements in addition to the practically confirmed multitasking, Twitter integration, remote email search stuff. Live coverage is after the break! More →

Microsoft has just invited us to a Windows Phone event in New York City on May 24th, 2011, during which the company will “lift the curtain on the next major release of Windows Phone.” We know Mango will offer Internet Explorer 9 with an integrated Twitter experience, better multitasking, and new apps such as Angry Birds, Skype, and Spotify. We’ve also heard that Microsoft will add Bing Audio for identifying music, Bing Vision for scanning bar codes, and voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation with Bing Maps, although none of these features have been confirmed by Microsoft just yet. On May 24th, however, we’ll learn it all — and of course we’ll be on hand reporting live.